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Paradox, v. 2, issue 4, whole no 8
10
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[Blue ink hand-written word "Parachute!" to left of hand-drawn duck with helmet and parachute harness; all over top section of type] [Handwritten: Norm] Norman Stanley: The chestnut about dissolving the spring in acid is an oldie. I don't think there's much of any question about it. The usual explanation has it that the individual atoms of the spring when loosened from the crystal structure of the metal by the solvent action of the acid pop off into the solution with a higher velocity than they would if dissolved from an undistorted crystal structure, and thus carry off the energy of the spring as kinetic energy of the ions formed by solution of the metal. This added motion of these ions soon becomes random motion due to collision with the other ions of the solution, and the result is that the solution has become warmer. So the end product is random molecular (or ionic) motion -- in other owrds, heat. Of course if ya wanna get technical about it and find out why the atoms should pop off more energetically from the distorted structure, we could go on and on discussing the electrostatic field of the structure and how the hydrogen ion of the acid takes up electrons from that structure to unbalance the electrostatic field and cause it to shove the surface layers of atoms away from itself, and how when a spring is bent this field is distorted so that a greater unbalance of forces arises when an electron is abstracted from the structure, than is the case with an undistorted structure, and so on. Really very simple. But i prefer to think of it as summat like buttons popping off an overly-occupied vest. Anyhow, I'm inclined to question if one could bind a spring so cunningly that it could go to the point of complete dissolution without breaking somewhere along the line and making a splash in the acid. Raym's a smart lad. He has it "topological". The story in Amazing to which he refers had it "topograhpical" throughout. Raym's right, of course. Topography wouldn't have helped Horsesense Hank much to get outa the predicament Nelson Bond and his Nazti spies got him into. Imagine that! scientific error in Amazing Stories. Palmer, how could you? ------------------------------------- [Handwritten: Rusty] James Russell Gray: Bill Watson has printed some of my poetic efforts, and yet his letter in the current Paradox hits me right in the neck -- for I have been guilty of dragging witches, ghouls, etc., into my stuff. And the thing is, Bill's right. But what in the world CAN a person write about to make his work fantastic if he doesn't do that? Suggestions will be very welcome. This Sylvia Moore poem you printed is swell, in a
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[Blue ink hand-written word "Parachute!" to left of hand-drawn duck with helmet and parachute harness; all over top section of type] [Handwritten: Norm] Norman Stanley: The chestnut about dissolving the spring in acid is an oldie. I don't think there's much of any question about it. The usual explanation has it that the individual atoms of the spring when loosened from the crystal structure of the metal by the solvent action of the acid pop off into the solution with a higher velocity than they would if dissolved from an undistorted crystal structure, and thus carry off the energy of the spring as kinetic energy of the ions formed by solution of the metal. This added motion of these ions soon becomes random motion due to collision with the other ions of the solution, and the result is that the solution has become warmer. So the end product is random molecular (or ionic) motion -- in other owrds, heat. Of course if ya wanna get technical about it and find out why the atoms should pop off more energetically from the distorted structure, we could go on and on discussing the electrostatic field of the structure and how the hydrogen ion of the acid takes up electrons from that structure to unbalance the electrostatic field and cause it to shove the surface layers of atoms away from itself, and how when a spring is bent this field is distorted so that a greater unbalance of forces arises when an electron is abstracted from the structure, than is the case with an undistorted structure, and so on. Really very simple. But i prefer to think of it as summat like buttons popping off an overly-occupied vest. Anyhow, I'm inclined to question if one could bind a spring so cunningly that it could go to the point of complete dissolution without breaking somewhere along the line and making a splash in the acid. Raym's a smart lad. He has it "topological". The story in Amazing to which he refers had it "topograhpical" throughout. Raym's right, of course. Topography wouldn't have helped Horsesense Hank much to get outa the predicament Nelson Bond and his Nazti spies got him into. Imagine that! scientific error in Amazing Stories. Palmer, how could you? ------------------------------------- [Handwritten: Rusty] James Russell Gray: Bill Watson has printed some of my poetic efforts, and yet his letter in the current Paradox hits me right in the neck -- for I have been guilty of dragging witches, ghouls, etc., into my stuff. And the thing is, Bill's right. But what in the world CAN a person write about to make his work fantastic if he doesn't do that? Suggestions will be very welcome. This Sylvia Moore poem you printed is swell, in a
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